Whole durum flour is commercially available and is used to manufacture and market whole wheat pasta products. Graham flour, like conventional whole wheat flour, is made by combining all, or most of the mill streams to give a product containing substantially all of the constituents of wheat as they exist in the intact berry or grain. However, excessive grinding renders the flour extremely subject to the development of rancidity and susceptible to insect infestation. Thus, a significant disadvantage of conventional whole grain milling of wheat is the resultant enzymatic attack on the wheat components, for example, the wheat germ. Finely milling whole wheat subjects the enzymes present in or on the germ to sufficient oxygen to facilitate rapid and significant enzymatic/oxidative degradation of the germ. This produces undesirable flavor changes, and a result often referred to as a hay-like flavor. Products such as pasta produced from degraded germ often reflect this undesirable hay-like flavor. In addition, such pasta products exhibit a texture which is coarse and grainy, and cooked pasta has bitter after taste.
U.S. Pat. No. 327,250, issued Sep. 29, 1885 to Foulds, discloses an improved wheat meal product comprising a mixture of coarse ground wheat germ and berry constituents. The wheat is cracked so that the germ is not crushed, but the germ is separated from the other milled wheat fractions. The non-germ fractions are milled to a fine meal, then the germ is added back to the finely ground meal.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,013,453, issued Jan. 2, 1912 to Shepard, discloses a method for preparing white wheat in a coarse manner with much of the bran and other rough parts of the grain retained. The wheat is soaked, washed, then dried rapidly at a high temperature, and progressively milled. This process causes the bran layers to stick to the endosperm portion of the wheat due to the specialized milling. As a result, the wheat is subjected to more of a cutting action than a conventional milling action.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,745,748, issued May 15, 1956 to McCashen, discloses a method of making a cereal flour wherein a type of coarse milling is achieved by centrifugal separation and impact of the germ upon the side walls of the mill. This is performed in such a way that the oil-containing cells are not ruptured, but rather are separated out. However, the resulting meal or flour is of uniformly fine mesh (40 to 60 mesh) and would therefore not be acceptable as a whole wheat flour which is characterized as larger pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,819,969, issued Jan. 14, 1958 to Grandel, teaches the nutritional advantages and process disadvantages of producing wheat flour with a high germ content in the production of pasta. Germ from cereal grains such as wheat, rice, or corn are partially or fully defatted, heat treated and added to semolina.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,997, issued Jan. 22, 1991 to Posner, et al., teaches the advantages of germ removal from the wheat flour. The wheat is tempered and impact treated in such a way that intact germ is separated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,506, issued Nov. 19, 1991 to Creighton, et al., teaches a process for inactivating the enzymes in the germ. The high temperature (260.degree. to 315.degree. C.) used in the process of Creighton, et al. would have a negative effect on protein functionality. As a result, pasta made from this process would be of poor quality.
Accordingly, there is a need for a simple and inexpensive process to provide pasta products prepared from milled whole grain wheat, wherein the whole grain wheat does not suffer from oxidative degradation of the germ component. Also needed in the art is an economic process for the preparation of milled wheat which does not require the separation of the germ from the other components, or a defatting of the germ.